Vehicles destroying Max Patch

HOT SPRINGS — In his nearly 20 years as a volunteer Appalachian Trail maintainer at Max Patch, a beloved mountain bald in Madison County, Dwayne Stutzman has never seen such brazen, senseless vandalism.

“This is the first time we’ve had any bad situations up there,” said Stutzman, a volunteer trail maintainer with the Carolina Mountain Club, who lives with his wife in Asheville. “We’ve seen a four-wheeler cut a gate occasionally, but we’ve never seen anything like this.”

The destruction, which Stutzman has documented in photos, includes owners of four-wheel drive and all-terrain vehicles cutting down barbed wire fences, knocking over Forest Service posts and signs and driving up the face of the mountaintop bald to gouge out ruts on the summit by performing “doughnuts.”

A few weeks ago someone burned a historic barn to the ground right off the AT on the TN/NC border. What in the world is wrong with people???? Do we not teach respect anymore? This is so incredibly sad!

I agree with Steve; I would donate funds to help restore it, if I knew where to send anything. Looks like also, despite agencies being short-handed, a bit more of a patrol of that area is in order. This is simply intolerable.